1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to rotisseries for cooking meat, and more particularly rotisserie grill used for cooking of a whole animal carcass adjacent a source of heat.
2. Background Art
Rotisserie barbecue grills involve roasting a whole animal carcass, usually over the heat source. During the roasting process, grease and fluids are released from the animal carcass. As these make contact with the heat source, the result is the heat source flame can flare-up and present a danger to those adjacent the rotisserie grill. Prior art attempts have been proposed that are directed to prevent flame flare-ups by the use of grease catching devices between the meat and the heat source.
One prior art design disposes a grease dripping tray between the heat source and the animal carcass to collect grease drippings. These types of designs are not ideal because the tray is heated by the heat source from the heat source below and allows for flare-ups to occur when the tray becomes heated enough. In addition, the use of a drip tray between the heat source and the cooking meat acts to reflect some of the radiant heat and creates convective flow patterns that impede cooking. Other prior art designs fail to include a means for draining grease from the tray.
Another approach, shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,319 to Holland, proposes a means for collecting grease in a large tray that is nearly as large as the cooking surface. One embodiment shown and described therein shows the grease collection pan as having nearly the same size in terms of surface area as the heat source, which reduces and essentially diminishes any radiant heat from reaching the cooking meat to a bare minimum. These designs are deficient for use in whole animal rotisserie cooking because they deflect and block the radiant heat from reaching the animal carcass. Other inventions use pans of varying sizes. In most of these designs, the general result is an obstruction of the radiant heat emanating from the heat source toward the cooking meat. It is preferable to have minimal obstructions between the heat source and the meat being cooked so that the radiant heat is unobstructed.
Advancing on this approach, there are rotisseries that propose to dispose staggered grease dripping catches, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,770 to Wells. Wells teaches staggered grease dripping catches with a shield below them to prevent the heating of the grease and possible flare-ups. While this invention may minimize heat deflection and effectively catch the grease drippings, it is complex in construction and assembly, and does not lend itself readily to grill construction for the non-commercial consumer.
Still other approaches, such as those taught by Wang in US Published Pat. Appln. No. 2008/0121221 and by Felecitas in U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,514, both have heat sources that are disposed off to the sides and laterally from the cooking meat. Both inventions allow grease to drip between and below the heat sources but are deficient due to the heat source being limited to the outer extremes of the devices and not providing uniform radiant heat.
A need remains for a rotisserie barbecue grill that minimizes flare-ups while disposing of grease drippings with minimal obstructions to the radiant heat. Preferably, such a construction utilizes all the surface area of the grill body and is designed for efficient, and easy, construction. There is also a need to construct such a grill in a simple and most efficient way possible in order to reduce costs. To provide these benefits, what is described and claimed herein is the invention addressing these and other problems encountered in the prior art.